Chapter 5 The Half-Brother

The next day, Marian took Roselin to the royal library, where the registers of every noble house were kept. Roselin wanted to know which other houses were connected to the royal family, and why certain names from the original novel had never appeared anywhere at all.

The thick register sat on the highest shelf. She had Marian help carry a wooden ladder over, then turned the brittle yellowed pages to the Elvaren royal family. There was Prince Caspian’s name, and another name struck out in black ink. Beneath it was written, “Lucien, descendant of the former prince’s bloodline.”

Roselin recognized that name at once. In the novel, Lucien was the hero everyone forgot. Yet now he was listed in the royal register itself. She felt the story she had read did not tell the whole truth. Perhaps the author had deliberately cut some chapters.

While she was copying the name into her notebook, footsteps rose slowly from the aisle between the shelves. A young man with long black hair falling over his forehead, wearing a plain dark gray cloak, walked toward her with a faint smile that never reached his eyes. He stopped to look at Roselin and said politely, “Lady Valent. Have you come looking for my family’s old books?”

Roselin stood straight and answered without looking away. “I’m checking who stands close to the royal family without anyone speaking of them.” Lucien laughed softly, his voice so gentle it was frightening. “You’ve changed a great deal, my lady. But a question like that is too dangerous to ask in public.”

He took a book from the shelf and laid it in her lap, saying, “If you want the truth, start here. But trust no one, myself included.” Then he vanished down the aisle as if he had never been there. Roselin looked down at the book. On the cover was a silver seal in the shape of a five-petaled rose, the crest of House Valent itself.